The governor of New York is in a state’s head as several governors wrote to the president complain about the confusion of vaccine distribution. Sources say that New York State has concealed the number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes.
On the 15th, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo held a press conference, at which he insisted that the state government only released information in a timely manner and did not hide the report.
Cuomo said that New York State did not cover up the status of COVID-19 deaths, but acknowledged that the state government should have released some information requested by state legislators, the public and the media more quickly.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: Looking back, we really should give priority to more information.
But Cuomo still stressed that the death toll statistics in New York State are accurate and that the governor’s office does not hide any information.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: What needs to be stated is that all deaths in nursing homes and hospitals have been reported comprehensively, publicly and accurately.
In addition, in response to the issue of sending infected patients with COVID-19 to nursing homes, Cuomo explained that since March last year, New York has been consulting relevant experts and following the guidance of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on whether to return COVID-19 patients to nursing homes.
He stressed that only eligible nursing homes can accept these people with COVID-19.
New York State accused of concealing the death toll from COVID-19 in nursing homes
The governor of New York denied concealment, but some people said that the governor lied.
What is the truth? Did nursing homes in New York state hide the death toll from the coronavirus? How did the scandal get big?
At the beginning of the epidemic, Andrew Cuomo once became a powerful benchmark in the U.S. governor’s response to the epidemic because he publicly said he obeyed science and believed in facts, in contrast to the disorderly response of the White House.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: People don’t know what to believe, so we only value facts.
We can only start from facts.
However, the recent exposure of a series of incidents involving the epidemic in nursing homes has greatly reduced Cuomo’s image.
Late last month, New York State Attorney General Letitia James released an investigation report that found that the number of nursing home deaths counted by the New York State health department was about 50% higher than the actual number announced.
New York State later acknowledged that it did, and raised the death toll of long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, from 8,500 previously disclosed to nearly 15,000, a figure that accounts for about one-third of the number of coronavirus deaths in New York State.
Previously, Cuomo had been promoting the low number of coronavirus deaths in New York State’s nursing homes as the highlight of the state’s epidemic prevention efforts.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: Our state has a lower death rate of coronavirus in nursing homes, and we are only ranked 46th out of 50 states in the United States.
The Attorney General’s report states that New York State only counts the number of deaths in institutions, and does not include the number of deaths after being transferred from these institutions to hospitals or other places.
In response, New York State health officials explained that New York State statistics based on the place where the death occurred, and the total number of deaths reported was accurate. In addition, the Attorney General’s Office also found that some nursing homes concealed deaths, and one nursing home alone concealed 29 deaths.
△ Basically, we stopped reporting, because we don’t know whether what we reported would be used against us.
Last week, Cuomo’s senior aides were exposed on a private call to admit that New York State did delay providing updated data on nursing home deaths to the Department of Justice and the state legislature.
Another thing that made Cuomo highly criticized was that the state health department released records this week, which showed that more than 9,000 COVID-19 patients who had not yet fully recovered were sent back to nursing homes from hospitals at the beginning of the epidemic, which is about 40% higher than the previous New York State government announced.
Last year, New York State was condemned for leaving untreated coronavirus patients from hospital and returning to nursing homes, which is believed to have led to the spread of the epidemic in nursing homes.
Family members of coronavirus deaths in the United States: I have testified for my mother, who could have celebrated her 82nd birthday, but ended her life early because of stupid public policy.
My mom is locked up in nursing homes with COVID-19 positive patients and only after my mom showed symptoms of COVID-19 I went to question the officials at the nursing home and they said that the state forced them to accept COVID patients and they couldn’t guarantee my mother was not exposed to the virus.
The Washington Post reported that state Sen. Jessica Ramos said in a statement: “At a time when we need people to trust the elected officials most, the governor and his team chose to deliberately lie and play politics with the lives of New Yorkers.” The New York State Legislature asked Cuomo to be further investigated.
New York Republican Congressman Lanworthy: The seriousness of this cover-up cannot be exaggerated.
